FOOT — ON BREEDING OE BIRDS FROM SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE. 37 



He believes that it may still be abundant on some of the unexplored 

 parts of the south coast of Australia, but in the colonized districts where 

 it has been much molested, it has now become so scarce that it is very 

 rarely seen. The Cereopsis goose passes the greater portion of its time 

 among the grass, and rarely takes to the water ; it appears to be strictly 

 a vegetable feeder ; and to subsist principally upon grasses in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the coast ; consequently its flesh is excellent, and all who 

 have tasted it agree in extolling its delicacy and flavor. It bears con- 

 finement remarkably well, but is by no means a desirable addition to 

 the farmyard, for it is so pugnacious that it not only drives all other 

 birds before it, but readily attacks *pigs, dogs, and any other animal 

 that may approach, and often inflicts severe wounds with its hard and 

 sharp bill. 



The period of the year (November) in which, during the two past 

 years, the Cereopsis goose began to lay in the Dublin gardens is that at 

 which the greater number of the birds of the Southern Hemisphere 

 begin to build and sit on their eggs. The habit of laying at a particu- 

 lar season may be considerably affected when birds are transported from 

 the Southern Hemisphere to the Antipodes ; thus in the London gar- 

 dens these birds breed in March, and perhaps these breeding later here 

 in their second year than they did in their first shows that they are 

 becoming acclimatised, and are accommodating themselves to the cli- 

 matic conditions of this country, so opposite to their own. The breed- 

 ing season of the Black Swan commences in October, and continues 

 until the middle of January. The Piping Crow begins to breed early 

 in the month of September, continuing till January, during which 

 period two broods are generally raised by each pair of birds.* The 

 breeding season of the Grass Paroquets is in December, and by the 

 end of the month the young are generally capable of providing for 

 themselves.-)- The Semipalmated goose commences to lay in September. J 

 The month of November is the breeding season of the Petrels and 

 Terns of Australia. 



The period of incubation of the Cereopsis goose is thirty-five days, 

 the same time as the Black Swan and the Rhea.§ The time with our 

 domestic goose is from thirty to thirty- four days ; the Sandwich Island 

 goose thirty-one days. 



A dislike to water and great pugnacity are two remarkable charac- 

 teristics of the Cereopsis goose. They are complete masters of the 

 other waterfowl. There lurks a combative spirit in some of the other 

 breeds of geese ; and in Russia this trait of the genus is appreciated, 

 developed, and turned to account. Geese are trained to fight in goose - 

 pits, as game cocks in this country ; the birds peck at each other's 



* Bennett, "Wanderings of a Naturalist," p. 224. 



f Op. cit. p. 231. 



+ Op. cit. p. 240. 



I Owen, " Comp. Anat. of Vertebrata," vol. ii., p. 257, 



